Headley, Rana planned to blast Sabarimala, Guruvayur temples

November 18, 2009 12:16 IST

The terrorist duo David Colman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana had planned to blast two major temples in Kerala -- the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple and Guruyaur Sreekrishna Swami temple -- to spread panic in the state and country, central intelligence sources told rediff.com.

This was reportedly revealed by terror suspects while they were questioned by the Intelligence Bureau in connection with the Headley-Rana case.

Deputy Superintendent of the National Investigative Agency Habeeb Rawuthar has also reportedly questioned several people in Kerala, who had earlier attended the Students Islamic Movement of India camp in Panayikkulam and Vagamon, in connection with this revelation.

Intelligence sources had earlier confirmed that the serial blasts in Jaipur, Bangalore, New Delhi and Hyderabad were earlier planned and plotted at these SIMI training camps.

The state police is also hunting for some men who had attended the camps, but have fled the state. It is searching for the files of those who attended the SIMI camps that may contain details about the plot.

Central intelligence agencies had earlier sent a letter to the chief secretaries of all states warning that the LeT had proposed to attack power installations.

Kerala was believed to be the prime target of the attack, as there are several major and minor hydroelectric power projects in the state.

The state government had also confirmed the threat and had provided security to the power projects, which are mostly located in remote areas.

The Kerala police has, meanwhile, reopened the Ernakulam collectorate blast case that occurred few months ago to ascertain whether Rana or Headley had played a role in it. The blast had been low-key and had been caused using Improvised Explosive Devices.

There are also unconfirmed reports that a group of Kerala-based men, who had received terror training from the LeT through the outlawed SIMI, have crossed over to Bangladesh and is active within the outfit Harkattul Mujahiddin.